Femi Falana, human rights lawyer,
says President Muhammadu Buhari is hiding under the cloak of national interest
to justify his disobedience of court orders.
While speaking at the annual
conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA in Abuja, Buhari had said the
rule of law is subject to national interest.
The president had said: “Rule of
Law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national
interest. Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in
this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national
security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of their
being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must
take second place, in favour of the greater good of society.”
Buhari’s comment drew criticisms
from various Nigerians, including Falana and Mike Ozekhome, a constitutional
lawyer, who said national interest is used by tyrannical governments to push
their dubious agenda.
Most of the president’s critics
saw the his comment as justification for the continued detention of Ibrahim
El-Zakzaky, Shiite leader, Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser and
others, despite court rulings ordering their release.
Speaking during a Channels TV
programme on Thursday, Falana said though the constitution gives room for
breaching human rights, there are established grounds for this to happen.
He added that one of those
grounds, being national security, is not at the disposition of the president
but should be determined by the court.
Falana said: “When you talk of
national security, you are talking of the security of the nation; of the
entirety of our people, and the constitution is clear on that. All the human
rights enshrined in chapter four of the constitution, including the right to
life, can be breached. But the conditions to breach them are outlined in the
same constitution.
“For instance, the law allows you
to kill in self defence. In the case of liberty, for El Zakzaky and his wife,
the defense of the government initially they are detaining them for state
security, and the court said, where are the facts? The court later ordered that
him and his wife be released and you cannot keep detaining them based on that.
“The attempt to hide under the
purview of national security to justify disobedience of court orders is a
problem.”
The senior advocate of Nigeria
added that disobedience to court orders is an indirect way of “inviting anarchy
and chaos”.
“The constitution provides that
all persons and authorities in Nigeria must comply with the decisions and
judgement of competent courts so when a government says, ‘I am not going to
obey court orders’, such a government is inviting anarchy and chaos,” he said.
“And mind you, the rule of law
transcends court orders. Once you give the impression that we operate above the
law, you are inviting anarchy and chaos, and that is what is going on.”
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